Republican candidate for governor Charles Bakerappeared on CNBC's "The Kudlow Report" yesterday as part of a series called "The Corner Office to Public Office," which focused on business leaders trying to leverage their backgrounds in private industry to win elected seats.

Baker discussed how his tenure as CEO of Harvard Pilgrim informs his plans for the state of Massachusetts if elected in November, including his take on the need for public pension and health care reform in the Commonwealth.

He also endorsed what host Lawrence Kudlow called "the Chris Christie model of governing." Christie, the governor of New Jersey, has taken a hard line budgetary stance since taking the reins of the state over from Democrat Jon Corzine, drawing national attention from Republican legislators, as well as wide-scale protest from NJ teachers. Baker said:

I think Chris Christie's approach is exactly right. He basically walked into a situation that was completely out of control on the spending and tax side, and he said, look, we're gonna draw a box here, and we're going to get out of this mess by reforming and restructuring state government, cutting state spending and getting serious about sending a message to every business and every family in New Jersey saying: State government is going to live within its means the same way everyone else does."